Patkau Architects: Material Operations

Experimenting directly with materials--bending and breaking them, feeling their texture, mass, and strength--provides a depth of understanding beyond simple visual observations. Patkau Architects’ innovative approach to design and purposeful use of materials provide a refreshed and expanded perspective on the possible.

Patkau Architects: Material Operations reveals the philosophy and techniques that drive the firm’s extraordinary constructions. These smaller-scale, research-driven projects complement their major building commissions, including the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, and the Capilano Library in Edmonton.

The name describes the way each project is begun: with a specific material to which a specific action or process is applied. The projects develop from there in different directions. Each embodies a search for clues to what is unimagined, yet possible.